The Special Interest dictionaries which you use to construct Classroom Puzzles and Special Interest Puzzle can alo be used to make WordSearch Puzzles. These puzzles are especially useful for the teaching of word recognition skills to young students.
The puzzles can be constructed in any shape or size up to a maximum of 47x47.
This example shows two significant variations from the puzzle shown above.
The word strikeouts are done using a single line the width and colour of which may be set as a print option. The first letter of each word is highlighted by means of coloured rounded rectangle.
On closer inspection of the puzzle, it can be seen that every letter in the puzzle has been used in at least one of the words of the puzzle. This is an option which can be turned on by the user before making the puzzle.
Before constructing the puzzle, the user may use the Define function to enter a secret message which is to be embedded into the puzzle. Then, when the program constructs the puzzle, it will leave a number of vacant spaces in the puzzle which matches exactly the number of letters in the secret message. As a final phase of puzzle construction, the program then places the letters of the message into the vacant slots in row order. When a solver has found and struckout all of the words in the WordSearch puzzle, the remaining letters will reveal the secret message.
As with Crossword and GrandTour puzzles, it is possible to construct WordSeach puzzles in shapes other than rectangular. The shape is determined by means of a Template which you can construct using the Lattice Maintenance function.
The template option may be combined with a range of other options. In this example, the High Density (or Full House) option has also been turned on.
The Crossword Express WordSearch applet allows puzzles to be published interactively on the Internet, and is available at no additional cost to ALL registered owners of Crossword Express. An example puzzle can be tried out by clicking the graphic image at the left.
The process of solving it is basically a mouse dragging operation. Point the mouse cursor to the first letter of any word you have found, press down the left mouse button, drag the mouse cursor until it is pointing to the last letter of the word, and then release the mouse button.
If you point your mouse cursor to any location within the bounds of the puzzle, then most web browsers will dispaly a set of icons in the top left hand corner of the puzzle area. One of these icons will be a printer, and clicking it will result in the puzzle being sent to your printer.